Sarah Weiskopf
Sarah Weiskopf is a Biologist with the National Climate Adaptation Science Center. Her research focuses on the impacts of climate change on terrestrial wildlife.
Biography
Sarah received her M.S. in wildlife ecology from the University of Delaware in 2016 and a B.S. in wildlife conservation and a B.A. in biology from the University of Delaware in 2014. Her previous research has included quantifying snow leopard dietary habits in the Central Asian steppe and using camera trapping and a novel method -- DNA extraction from terrestrial leech blood meals -- to study biodiversity and habitat fragmentation in Asian tropical rainforests. Sarah joined the USGS in 2016 as a Presidential Management Fellow, where she has served as a chapter lead on the Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems Services chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment and as a U.S. Delegate to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. During her fellowship, she also spent several months working on international biodiversity issues at the Department of State Office of Conservation and Water.
Science and Products
Understanding Changing Climate Variables to Clarify Species’ Exposure and Responses to Changing Environments across North America
Species across North America are being impacted by changing climate conditions. Plants and animals can respond to these changes in a variety of ways, including by shifting their geographic distributions. Determining whether or not observed biological changes, such as range shifts, are indeed the result of climate change is a key challenge facing natural resource managers and requires...
Understanding Species' Range Shifts in Response to Climate Change: Results from a Systematic National Review
Climate change represents one of the foremost drivers of ecological change, yet its documented impacts on biodiversity remain uncertain and complex. Although there have been many published studies on species shifting their geographic ranges in response to climate change, it is still challenging to identify the specific mechanisms and conditions that facilitate range shifts in some species and...
Workshops and Collaborations to Improve Biodiversity and Climate Modeling
As our world changes and communities are faced with uncertain future climate conditions, decision making and resource planning efforts can often no longer rely on historic scientific data alone. Scientific projections of what might be expected in the future are increasingly needed across the country and around the world. Scientists and researchers can develop these projections by using...
Multilocus metabarcoding of terrestrial leech bloodmeal iDNA increases species richness uncovered in surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity
Leech-derived invertebrate DNA (iDNA) has been successfully leveraged to conduct surveys of vertebrate host biodiversity across the Indo Pacific. However, this technique has been limited methodologically, typically only targeting mammalian 16S rDNA, or both 16S and vertebrate 12S rDNA for leech host determination. To...
Fahmy, Mai; Williams, Kalani; Tessler, Michael; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Hekkala, Evon; Siddall, Mark E. What are the effects of climate variability and change on ungulate life-histories, population dynamics, and migration in western North America? A systematic map protocol
Climate is an important driver of ungulate life-histories, population dynamics, and migratory behaviors, and can affect the growth, development, fecundity, dispersal, and demographic trends of populations. Changes in temperature and precipitation, and resulting shifts in plant phenology, winter severity, drought and wildfire conditions, invasive...
Malpeli, Kate; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Thompson, Laura; Amanda R. Hardy
Using information from global climate models to inform policymaking—The role of the U.S. Geological Survey
This report provides an overview of model-based climate science in a risk management context. In addition, it summarizes how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will continue to follow best scientific practices and when and how the results of this research will be delivered to the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and other stakeholders to...
Terando, Adam; Reidmiller, David; Hostetler, Steven W.; Littell, Jeremy S.; Beard, T. Douglas; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Belnap, Jayne; Plumlee, Geoffrey S. Do empirical observations support commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses? A systematic review protocol
Background Among the most widely anticipated climate-related impacts to biodiversity are geographic range shifts, whereby species shift their spatial distribution in response to changing climate conditions. In particular, a series of commonly articulated hypotheses have emerged: species are expected to shift their distributions to higher...
Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Carter, Shawn; Eaton, Mitchell; Johnson, Ciara; Lynch, Abigail; Miller, Brian W.; Morelli, Toni Lyn; Rodriguez, Mari Angel; Terando, Adam; Thompson, Laura Climate change effects on biodiversity, ecosystems, ecosystem services, and natural resource management in the United States
Climate change is a pervasive and growing global threat to biodiversity and ecosystems. Here, we present the most up-to-date assessment of climate change impacts on biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services in the U.S. and implications for natural resource management. We draw from the 4th National Climate Assessment to summarize observed...
Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Crozier, Lisa; Gaichas, Sarah; Griffis, Roger; Halofsky, Jessica E.; Hyde, Kimberly J. W.; Morelli, Toni Lyn; Morisette, Jeffrey T.; Muñoz, Roldan C.; Pershing, Andrew J.; Peterson, David L.; Poudel, Rajendra; Staudinger, Michelle D.; Sutton-Grier, Ariana E.; Thompson, Laura; Vose, James; Weltzin, Jake F.; Whyte, Kyle Powys Climate change effects on deer and moose in the midwest
Climate change is an increasing concern for wildlife managers across the United States and Canada. Because climate change may alter populations and harvest dynamics of key species in the region, midwestern states have identified the effects of climate change on ungulates as a priority research area. We conducted a literature review of projected...
Weiskopf, Sarah R.; LeDee, Olivia E. ; Thompson, Laura M. Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity
Biodiversity—the variety of life on Earth—provides vital services that support and improve human health and well-being. Ecosystems, which are composed of living things that interact with the physical environment, provide numerous essential benefits to people. These benefits, termed ecosystem services, encompass four primary functions: provisioning...
Reidmiller, David; Avery, C. W.; Easterling, D. R.; Kunkel, K. E.; Lewis, K. L. M.; Maycock, T. K.; Stewart, B. C.; Lipton, Douglas; Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Carter, Shawn L.; Peterson, Jay; Crozier, Lisa; Fogarty, Michael; Gaichas, Sarah; Hyde, Kimberly J. W.; Morelli, Toni Lyn; Morisette, Jeffrey; Moustahfid, Hassan; Munoz, Roldan; Poudel, Rajendra; Staudinger, Michelle D.; Stock, Charles; Thompson, Laura; Waples, Robin S.; Weltzin, Jake F. Habitat overlap between Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus and red panda Ailurus fulgens in Himalaya
Studying habitat overlap between sympatric species is one of the best ways to identify interspecies relationships and to direct conservation efforts so that multiple species can benefit. However, studies exploring interspecies relationships are very limited in Nepal, making it difficult for the government of Nepal and conservation partners to...
Bista, Manjit; Panthi, Saroj; Weiskopf, Sarah R.
CASC Paper on Deer, Moose, and Climate Change in the Midwest Among Top Downloaded Papers in the Journal of Wildlife Management
A 2019 CASC publication on the effects of climate change on deer and moose in the Midwest is among the top 10% most downloaded papers on the Journal of Wildlife Management’s website.